Page 22 - Jewish News_January 2022
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22A                         January 2022                                                                   JEWISH INTEREST


                                                                                K’zohar Ha-Ivrit


                                    Temple Sinai                                B’ray-sheet – Beginning


                                                                                By Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin
                                                                                      he year 2022 is here. The cele-     Another use of  m’ray-sheet is
                                     Connect   with us
                                                                                      bration of a new year conjures   found in the words of Ecclesiastes who
                                          Grow
                                                with us
                                                                                Tideas of new beginnings and a        suggests  tov a-cha-rit da-var m’ray-
                                                                                fresh start. For many of us, when we   shee-toh, literally  ‘better  the end of
                                                Celebrate  with us
                                                                                think  of  the  concept  of  beginning,   a matter  than  the beginning  thereof,’
                                                                                the  Hebrew  word  b’ray-sheet comes   meaning it is the end results that count
                                                                                                   to  mind.  B’ray-  not the beginning action. (Ecc. 7:8)
                                                                                                   sheet  is  the  first   Last, but not least, we should men-
                                                                                                   word in the nar-   tion  the statement  regarding  the  cre-
                                                                                                   ration of the He-  ation story in Genesis where it states:
                                                                                                   brew Scriptures    b’ray-sheet bara Elohim, which is
                                                                                                   and  the  name  of   translated  by most, ‘in the beginning
                                                                                                   the  first  book  of   God created.’ However, some prefer the
                                                                                                   the  Bible,  name-  translation, ‘when God began to create.’
                                                                                                   ly  Genesis.  In   (Gen. 1:1) Either way, b’ray-sheet can
                                                                                                   honor  of  the  be-  receive  several  meanings  depending
                                                                                   Dr. Rachel Dulin  ginning of a new   on  context.  B’ray-sheet means ‘start,’
                                                                                year, let us briefly explore the etymol-  ‘beginning,’ ‘inception,’ ‘outset,’ ‘com-
                                                                                ogy of the word b’ray-sheet and a few   mencement,’ ‘Genesis’ and ‘choice.’
                                                                                phrases connected to it.                  In  post-Biblical  Hebrew,  ma-a-se
                                                                                    The word b’ray-sheet is composed   b’ray-sheet  means  ‘cosmogony.’  (Ha-
                                                                                of two parts: the first part is b’, which   giga 1:2)
                                                                                is a preposition meaning ‘in,’ and the    The  philosopher  Even  Gevirol  of
                                                                                second is the noun  ray-sheet, which,   11 -century Spain encapsulated  it all
                                                                                                                        th
                                                                                without a preposition attached  to it,   in his poem Adon Olam, in which he
                                                                                usually  means  ‘first.’  Ray-sheet ap-  referred  to God as the Master of the
                                                                                pears 51 times in the biblical Text. For   Universe who is b’li ray-shit or ‘with-
                                                                                example, the term ray-sheet ha-pri, the   out a beginning nor an end.’
                                                                                first fruits, refers to the first fruits of the   In  Modern  Hebrew,  b’ray-sheet
                                                                                season to be given to the Lord. (Deut.   also  means  ‘a  pioneering  act.’  Also,
                                                                                26:1) Another example, the term ray-  Ye-a-rot  b’ray-sheet literally  means
                                                                                sheet o-no literally means ‘the first of   ‘forest of the beginning of time,’ refer-
                                                                                his  strength,’  referring  to  one’s  first-  ring to the primordial forest, whereas
                                                                                born child. (Gen. 49:3) Also, we should   cha-yot  b’ray-sheet refers  to  the  ani-
                                                                                mention  the  Psalmist  who  advocated   mals of old, like the dinosaurs which
                                                                                the  thought  that  ray-sheet  cho-khma,   roamed the earth and now are extinct.
                                                                                the  first  sign  of  wisdom,  is  the  awe   So  now  that  we  went  back  to  b’ray-



                                Looking for                                     of the Lord (Ps. 111:10), whereas the   sheet, investigating words of primordi-
                                Looking for
                                                                                                                      al time, while moving on to the future
                                                                                wisdom writer declared that the awe of
                                                                                                                      in the counting of time, as we say in
                                                                                the Lord is ray-sheet da-at, namely the
                                            another way
                                            another               way           first step to knowledge. (Prov. 1:7)  Hebrew,  ray-sheet kol,  first  and  fore-
                                                                                    There are times in the Text when
                                                                                                                      most,  I wish all  our readers  a  happy
                                            to advertise                        the  prepositions  like  m’, meaning   year m’ray-sheet ha-shannah, from the
                                            to advertise
                                                                                                                      beginning of the year onward. May it
                                                                                ‘from,’ and  b’, meaning  ‘in’ are at-
                                your business?                                  tached to the word ray-sheet, and thus   be a year of peace and joy.
                                your business?
                                                                                give a new nuance to the word. For ex-
                                                                                                                      Dr. Rachel Zohar Dulin is a professor
                                                                                                                      of biblical  literature at Spertus Col-
                                                                                ample, the Deuteronomists advised that
       With g   uaranteed categ        or y exclusivit    y , *                 the Land of Israel is guarded by God   lege in Chicago, and a retired adjunct
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                                                                                m’ray-sheet ha-shannah, from year’s
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